Ganges Water Sharing Treaty

The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty (formally the Treaty between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh on Sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Waters at Farakka) was signed in New Delhi on 12 December 1996 by Indian Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It resolved a dispute dating to 1975, when India commissioned the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges roughly 18 km upstream of the Bangladesh border to flush silt from the Kolkata (Hooghly) port. By diverting flow during the lean season, Farakka reduced downstream discharge into Bangladesh, causing salinity intrusion, desertification of the southwest, and damage to the Sundarbans and the Gorai river system. After interim agreements (1977, with subsequent Memoranda of Understanding in 1982 and 1985) lapsed, Bangladesh internationalised the grievance, raising it at the UN General Assembly in 1976, which produced a consensus statement urging a negotiated settlement.

The Treaty is valid for thirty years and establishes a sharing formula for the dry season, 1 January to 31 May, divided into ten-day periods. Its core mechanism rests on the flow measured at Farakka: when availability is 70,000 cusecs or less, India and Bangladesh each receive 50 per cent; between 70,000 and 75,000 cusecs, Bangladesh receives a guaranteed 35,000 cusecs and India the balance; above 75,000 cusecs, India draws 40,000 cusecs and Bangladesh the rest. A crucial guarantee clause assures each country a minimum of 35,000 cusecs in alternating ten-day blocks during the critical 1 March to 10 May period. The Treaty created a Joint Committee to observe and record flows and report to the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC, established 1972), and incorporates principles of equity, fairness, and no harm to either party.

In practice, implementation has been contentious. Bangladesh has repeatedly complained that actual flows fall below treaty guarantees in dry years, and the absence of an arbitration or enforcement clause weakens its remedy. The Treaty also lacks a guaranteed minimum flow during extreme drought, a gap exposed in low-flow seasons. As of 2026 the Treaty approaches its expiry in 2026 (thirty years from 1996), making renegotiation a live diplomatic priority; a Joint Technical Committee has examined renewal terms. Critically, the Ganges accord stands in contrast to the still-unsigned Teesta water-sharing agreement, stalled since 2011 largely owing to objections from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

For the BCS examination and the Bangladesh in World Affairs paper, the Treaty is a high-frequency topic. Candidates should master the 1996 date, the thirty-year term, the 35,000-cusec guarantee, and the Farakka Barrage context, alongside the institutional role of the Joint Rivers Commission. Examiners commonly ask candidates to compare the Ganges Treaty with the unresolved Teesta dispute, to assess Bangladesh's lower-riparian vulnerability under international watercourse law, and to evaluate the Treaty's adequacy given climate-driven flow variability. The topic links to broader themes of transboundary river governance, the UN Watercourses Convention (1997) principles of equitable utilisation, and India-Bangladesh bilateral relations.